The Weekly Feed is over. Start doling out all of the food metaphors about scraps at the table, stick a fork in it, et cetera, et cetera. While I dont mean to make light of its demise, others seem to be bothered by it much more than me. Its not that ending it doesnt resonate with me, six years is a long time to do anything every single week, but Ive never been too big a fan of nostalgia and when its time to wrap something up, it also means its time to move on. Go to the next thing. About that
How do you like the title The Speed of Sound? Thats what Im calling my next series (cribbed from the Pearl Jam song, not Coldplay, though for some of you, that will make little difference, as you cant stand either band). In a way, The Speed of Sound is the child of The Weekly Feed. When youre syndicating a show, the question you get more than any other from radio stations that youre pitching it to is, Yeah, but whats so special about it that I couldnt do it myself? I wanted to reply, Well, for starters, youre not, but I never felt like that was going to win the argument outright. So I started doing interviews with the idea being that if I could get enough big artists to talk to me, I could talk smaller market radio stations into picking the show up due to the fact that they didnt have them. Its hard to say how much of the shows success that accounted for, but it became the centerpiece just the same.
How often do you watch or listen to an interview? Some folks dont care. Theyre happy enough with the music, the occasional live show, and let that be that. But for us obsessives, interviews are a way into the minds of our gods. They give the peek behind the curtain, a way to feel the music even more. All of those nights sitting by yourself with your headphones on, listening to the sound of the room the song was recorded in, we use what we learned in the interview to add all the extra colors of that room that we couldnt imagine before.
Thats one of the main reasons Im surprised at how many bad interviews there are. Watch enough and you can quickly peg the ones whove never done any research, ones who were only concerned about being seen next to someone famous, or ones that are more concerned about themselves than who theyre talking to. I wont sit here and boast to be one of the worlds greatest interviewers. I have my idols, and I know what Im not. But when I started out, especially seeing all of the bad ones, I promised that as long as I could offer a conversation good enough to not waste the artists time, then I was on the right track.
Do enough of anything and youll start to develop your own style. I quickly learned that I didnt need to ask the question that had never been asked. Thats next to impossible. But if I ask it in a way thats conversational and keep my ears open for the right words, I could take the answer and go somewhere the artist hadnt had a chance to before. Thats when you get to the good stuff, like religion and faith, sex and addictions, politics and preferences. Basically all of the things youre not suppose to talk about at a party. Thats the gold.
So, when I wipe away The Weekly Feed, brush away the new music mixtape aspect, whats left are the great conversations from both the audience and the artist. And thats where my interest is. How far can I take it? What new shine can I give it? Can I do something thats relevant years afterward? Thats what all artists ask, right? Thats what we have to strive for. Sometimes we hit the mark; sometimes we blame it on a sophomore slump curse.
What I promise is to never ask where the band got its name, who are their major influences or what food they would compare their music to. And itll be presented in a full, Technicolor montage of sound. The Speed of Sound. Coming soon to a radio box near you.
Kyle Meredith is the music director of WFPK and host of the nationally syndicated The Weekly Feed. Hunting bears was never his strong point.
This article appears in June 10, 2015.